Tear Jerker / Purple Days

• After several loops go wrong, Joffrey does as "right" loop where he redoes everything exactly the same up to his wedding, planning to make Tyrion drink the poison since he thinks Tyrion is who killed him. He's horrified where Tyrion gulps down the poisoned wine without hesitation and realizes not only was it not Tyrion, but that he's just killed his own uncle.
• Joff's party being ambushed during the Broken Knights loop. Jon dies, then Sandor decides he'll only slow Tyrion and Joffrey down and forces them to Go On Without Me, and then they're captured by Renly's knights anyway. To rub salt in the wound, after Renly dies the Stormlands and Reach lords instantly try to woo Joff, who angrily reminds them they just killed two of his best friends a week or so ago.
• The deaths of Jon Snow and Sandor at the Citadel during the Broken Knights arc. It took all Joffrey's willpower not to end his life via suicide-by-cop. It was only when he realize if he does take that path, Tyrion would be killed, that he stopped.
• Joffrey doesn't understand why it hurt so much when Sandor Clegane addressed him as "Your Grace" for the first time after the Skirmish at the Riverlands, following his brutal slapdown of rebel Riverlands forces (which he genuinely wanted to avert). The rest of the loop doesn't get any better. First he successfully catches up to the Northern forces; unlike the Red Wolf loop, he crushes all opposition, including Jon Snow and Robb Stark, who he still thinks of as friends. He receives nasty wounds, which begin festering. Then he receives news of Tyrion's death (it's implied that Baelish killed him for getting too close to his operations, and so he could rise to Hand of the King). Small wonder he falls into incoherent sorrow for the few remaining days of the loop.
  • Joffrey leads the Crownlanders on their march north, eager to stop Robb's advance cold before he could pick up Riverlander reinforcements. Lightning raids by Tully horsemen, led by the Blackfish, hamper his advance significantly, enough that when he personally encounters the Blackfish during an ambush he'd set for the northern heavy horse, he pursues and shoots down his three escorts, then the man himself. Allowing himself a rare moment to gloat so as to spite the Blackfish, Joffrey suddenly finds his horse attacked by Ghost. He kills the direwolf on sheer instinct, before turning back to the man he'd shot down, and turning him over to reveal Jon Snow, dying by his hand. Joffrey is made morose at the sight, perhaps remembering the deep friendship he'd forged with Jon over the Broken Knights loop.
  • Joffrey and Robb's armies finally meet in battle. Joffrey's forces manage to stun the northerners with large logs rolled from steep hills into the valley where the battle is taking place, but cannot make good on this advantage as their cavalry gets tied up engaging the Tully horse. The northern infantry steadily pushes the Crownlanders back, until Joffrey decides to gather a group together to strike directly at Robb, Richard-III-at-Bosworth-Field style. Willard Mooton, who Joffrey had won over after forcing him to yield at the earlier skirmish in the Riverlands, joins this charge with some of his own men. His conduct in the subsequent melee is enough for Joff to decide that he will knight him immediately after battle—only for Willard to take an arrow to the eye courtesy of Theon.
  • Joff kills Robb. Gazing over the dead Robb's face, Joff thinks that he isn't at all the feared Red Wolf of many loops prior, but just a scared boy.
  • It turns out one of the lords rising against Joffrey surrendered once he realized it wasn't going to be a simple skirmish, but an actual battle. Joffrey stares at Sandor in confusion - from his viewpoint, it was a pretty small skirmish.
• Basically anytime Joffrey forges a bond, whether it be Ned or the Dawn Army or even the Broken Knights, they are all reset as soon as he dies and the loop begins anew. Joffrey acknowledges that each time he befriends them again, it will not be the same.
• Sansa's reaction to Ned's brutal death by torture in the Red Wolf loop. His death in that loop was so brutal that even Cersei was horrified.
• The last three chapters of the Yi-Ti Arc, as the army collapses and Joffrey realizes he's witnessing the end of the world. Made worse by the deaths of his brothers-in-arms, who he had grown very close to.
  • Joffrey is still reeling from his military experiences in the Yi-Ti loop as he arrives in Winterfell for the subsequent loop, enough that holding a steak knife triggers flashbacks. Myrcella, who he'd confessed his secret to, holds his hand and calls him brother for the first time, almost making him cry.
• Nalia's role as Baelish's spy. After spending most of the loop recovering from the Yi-Ti loop, he finds out that the one person whom he thought he could share the truth, had been forced to spy on him. Then, he finds out that his confession has lead to a conspiracy that would see him condemned as a mad man which would lead to an outbreak of war. A war which he was trying extremely hard to prevent. Joffrey breaks and this time, he does not slip into a BSOD, but back to the cruel and sadistic monster he was at the beginning of the fic. He did snap back and has an My God, What Have I Done? moment. But it showcased just how much the Game of Thrones could twist and warp such a person.
  • He has a second such relapse in The Messenger interlude, in which he brutally executes a member of the Guard who had raped and murdered a Logistics officer. He originally meant to leave him to be stoned along the others... and then he opened his mouth. Joff went into such a rage he immediately caved his chest in. And the worst part is, he is horribly aware some part of him deeply enjoyed the experience.
• It's Played for Laughs, but when Joffrey tells Sandor and Tyrion that they have Broken Knight spirit, Sandor only replies "the what now?", serving as a reminder that for all Joffrey cares about Tyrion and Sandor and they him, its still not the same as it was before.
• Despite Joffrey's best efforts, Sansa accepts her role as his partner, refusing the chance to return to innocence and ignorance to follow him into the dark. In the best Azor Ahai tradition, Joffrey impales her with Brightroar.
  • And this was following a horrific night where King Robert dropped dead and Renly instigated a rushed and bloody coup that saw House Stark's retinue utterly slaughtered, including Bran, Arya, Jeyne, and Lady with Sansa's effort to stop it all for naught.
    • The utter Trauma Conga Line Sansa suffered on her first loop cannot be understated. Although she manages to round up the Stark's guards to do a Last Stand, they were quickly overwhelmed by the Reach's and Stormlands' bannermen. The direwolves were slaughtered to pieces, Arya and Sansa had to watch Bran get stabbed, and then find out that Jeyne had died while trying to escape. The guards were more concerned at the fact that they had accidentally killed a Stark child, fearing retribution they made a plan to kill them all and pretend that they simply could not find them. Arya had her neck slit and her body dumped unceremoniously into the sea, then Sansa was nearly raped and was only saved by Joffrey's timely intervention. Despite this, she still insisted on joining the Loop, although Joffrey pointed out that she didn't have to remember a thing if she opt to die then and leave him to loop alone. This whole incident is the backbone to her Took A Level In Bad Ass in the next few loops.
• Chapter 45: Robert's passing and his last thoughts being of how proud he is of Joffrey and of his late father and how Baratheons were meant to die with hammer in hand.
• Chapter 49: Basically all of it. Cersei has Tyrion poisoned which prompts Sansa to arrest her, in front of a terrified Tommen and Myrcella unfortunately. Then a few days later, Sansa gets word that Stannis is on his way to King's Landing with a fleet at his back, intending to take the city. Just before the battle, Ned is killed by the shadow demon Melisandre conjured. An enraged and heartbroken Sansa manages to rally the panicking troops of King's Landing to launch an defensive against Stannis' superior numbers and even manages to kill the Baratheon herself, but not before watching several of her allies die, including Lady, Jory Cassel, Barristan Selmy, Lyra Mormont, and 3 other of her Kingsguard. At the end of the battle, Sansa is lying in a sea of corpses, bleeding from several wounds with Meera Reed comforting her, and thinking of how she finally understands why Joffrey believes that War Is Hell.
• Chapter 51: Jon dies in a brutal battle against Aegon's forces, just after he admitted he was going to ask for Meera Reed's hand. A heartbroken Joff desperately keeps the red haze of madness at bay wondering what his friend would think if he saw him lose control after his victory.
• Chapter 52: Although comforted by the idea that they would be reunited, Joffrey still does not take it well when Sansa dies before him. Sansa didn't die an easy death, either, having been half-burned by dragonfire, had her legs broken, and bleeding out in front of an immobilized and helpless Joffrey's eyes over the course of several hours.
  • When Sansa comes back from this loop, her trauma is immediately obvious to her family; she makes it a point to show affection to both Jon and Arya, and breaks down in her father's arms.
• Chapter 55: It's clear Sansa's training in blood magic in Asshai is taking a heavy toll on her body and mind. She eventually becomes an accomplished shadowbinder and blood mage, but her entire body is Covered in Scars as a result, and she realizes she takes a disturbing amount of pleasure in draining people of their blood and life. The first time she sees Joffrey after her latest ritual, the normally open and warm Sansa tries to dismiss him coldly and even briefly fights him just so she wouldn't have to confront him in her shame and guilt. Even then she barely lasts a minute before Joffrey talks her down, prompting her to burst into tears and later admit to Joffrey in their bed that she believes she's turning into a monster.
• Chapter 58: Joffrey's impatience and eagerness to advance in his goal to expand the Purple comes at a horrific cost... he and Sansa are killed by the White Walkers' blade and very nearly die permanent deaths. They manage to survive and go back in time again, but the damage to the Purple means they could only be sent back to after the Battle of Oxcross in the canon timeline, meaning that canon-Joffrey had already inflicted irreparable damage to both the realm and Sansa's family. On top of all of that, the damage done to the Purple could very well be permanent, meaning that they might not be able to travel back again, and even if they could they probably could not go back as far as they need to to set their plans for Westeros and the Walkers in motion. All these realizations compound in horrific clarity for Joffrey and Sansa, as the former is overcome with guilt and despair and the latter can only cry in mourning for her lost family and scold Joffrey for his recklessness.
• Chapter 68: Robert Baratheon's final death. Even as he sits dying, the last embers of the Demon of the Trident shine and let him see a bit of the truth of Joffrey's rebirth. Father and son bond over their memories and thoughts on war, and Robert uses his final chance to affirm his pride in Joff. He quietly dies before Joff can tell him the truth of his birth, but he goes to the Stranger with a smile in his face and a warhammer in hand.
  Joffrey: The King is dead.
  Ser Barristan: Long live the King.
• Even though Joffrey wastes no time in assaulting Dragonstone and taking out Melisandre after being crowned, he's unable to save Shireen.
• Even after everything they've done, it's not hard to feel at least a little sad for Cersei and Jaime; by the time of the final loop, they've managed to alienate Joffrey so much that his plan for them essentially consists of dropping them in the Westerlands and walking away from them for good. And considering Joffrey's time looping, he may dislike them for things they haven't even done yet.